These are snaps I made while visiting various camera companies and stores, and seeing my family, all in New York.

These are all shot on the Canon S90, which I kept in my pocket the whole time. Almost all of these shots are exactly as the JPGs came out of the camera: no cropping, no fiddling, no nothing, other than resizing and branding for online use.

I set my S90, like all my PowerShots, to Vivid, which you do by hitting FUNC SET, click down to OFF, and right to Vivid. Most shots in daylight were made at -0.7 exposure compensation, and most dim-light shots at 0 compensation. I set i-Contrast to Auto. I shoot in Program mode: the P on the top dial.

I shot most in Auto White Balance with A3 (added amber). To add amber or blue, simply turn the front lens ring when WB is selected.

Here's the view from about 2,500 feet at 226 knots. My mom is a pilot and I've been trying to make a shot like this since I was 11 years old. It never worked, because the plane moves too fast and it's too dark.

Auto ISO and program chose the ISO and exposure, and the fast f/2 lens (the fastest zoom common in photography) and superb Image Stabilization worked like nothing before. Even if I brought a big D3 or D700, the widest SLR lenses with IS or VR are only f/3.5, not f/2 like the S90.

This was snapped with the S90, program mode chose f/2 at 1/13 (that's a thirteenth of a second), and Auto ISO chose ISO 1,600.

Considering that we're moving at over 200 MPH, I'm astounded that anything is sharp at all anyplace other than the center, and especially since this is shot out a plastic airliner window.

This shot has nothing to do with the cloister or the apparent subject. It has everything to do with lines and white blobs (the lamps). I held the camera crooked, and played for quite a while as I put the lamps where I wanted them for good balance.

By "hand-printed," I converted to grayscale, then back to RGB. I added a curves adjustment layer and lifted the red, and dropped the blue channels a bit in the curves layer to give a warm tone. I don't use anything bought or canned; I just fiddle with it until it looks as I want it.

Using more curves adjustment layers and adjustment layer masks, I darkened the corners, and very much darkened the annoying bright area on the middle left edge back to gray. I then lightened the upper right lamp. I'm doing all this painting with my mouse.

This is exactly as I composed it, just as almost everything else here. I deliberately put the lamps in opposite corners.

The exact amount of space around the upper-right lamp took a few tries as I shot this. I needed just the exact amount of space around it to give it this look.

It was only 25ºF (-5ºC) all day here, and it was vacant and free of charge. Yay!

For those of you still humping DSLRs, be sure to pay for a permit before setting foot on the hallowed grounds above.

Honestly, I suspect this applies to people photographing weddings, portraits and engagements. Man, those people bug everyone else when they expect us to stay off the grass or move so they use this as a photo location, and that's why they have to pull a permit first.

I doubt there's any problem for just snapping pictures, even if you have a DSLR, which brands you as a pro whether you like it or not. With nothing other than a concealed Canon S90 in my pocket, no one cares.

Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, 4:17 PM.

Is this legal to print on a street sign? What on Earth could be at the other end? It doesn't look like a real sign, it looks like the sort of prank my brothers and I would put in front of a friend's house.

It turns out that CSHL does a lot of DNA poop research, similar to programs already running at The Anal Probe Corporation (APC). APC's technology has already been deployed as part of Google's TISP program, which uses DNA sequencing of your personal bodily output to display online ads that are contextually relevant.

Lieutenant Nathan Hale Monument, Huntington, Long Island, 4:33 PM.

Lieutenant Nathan Hale Monument, Huntington, Long Island, 4:32 PM.

There are three words I don't understand on this sign, and I graduated college with honors.

Nathan Hale had quite a vocabulary.

My Towel Hanger, Long Island, 10:26 PM.

My dad made these custom towel racks for us when we were kids. This one is mine. Thanks dad! He used drink coasters, turned them over, cut off a part, added press-on lettering, and varnished them.